PSUSD officials stress school bus safety after recent incidents

The Palm Springs Unified School District is making a push to inform drivers about school bus safety after a few recent collisions.

Bumper to bumper traffic is expected during the morning rush at Rio Vista Elementary School with parents navigating among school buses.

“The bus is like a traveling sanctuary for kids, and some people put their kids on the buses and we want them to be safe,” John Biggie, PSUSD Head of Transportation, said.

PSUSD officials say they have seen a trend of drivers not following school traffic laws resulting in close-calls or minor collisions. In fact, the district’s bus contractor “First Student” says within the last month they had two school buses get rear-ended by drivers.

“The people coming up behind them just were not paying attention and they missed a big yellow bus in front of them,” Matthew Lafond, First Student Location Manager

As a result, they want drivers to slow down and stop when a school bus is picking up or dropping off kids.

“Please pay attention to their lights. They’re activating their lights for a reason. Just like a red light and a yellow light on a traffic signal,” Lafond said.

By law, if a flashing stop sign is deployed on a school bus, you just simply have to be behind the school bus in your car, but school bus drivers want to others to be at least 100 feet back in order to maximize safety picking up and dropping off students.

“If a car goes through the lights, they could hit either the children or the bus driver that’s out there trying to safely cross the children,” Lafond said.

Frustrated parents say they’ve seen drivers disregard school buses at stops.

“They are plenty of signs but no one’s following them and nobody’s actually asking the parents to follow them, so honestly it’s a hazard,” Vivian Alacour said.

“I just think if it was my child and they were getting off the bus, I would want other parents to think of my child’s safety as well,” Yanira Cuello, said.

District officials say they hear the concerns and are asking drivers to be mindful.

“This is a place where we want everyone to be safe and you have children around and those children could be yours or a relative of yours. Be safe and pay attention,” Biggie said.